Terms of Reference for Consultancy

Job Description

Terms of Reference 

Conduct Practical Training for Targeted Program Partners and Project Participants on  sustainable and clean energy cooking solutions for households in Port Loko District 

Background  

About Trócaire 

Trōcaire is an Irish development agency that was established in 1973 by the Catholic Bishops  of Ireland and whose work is inspired by Catholic Social teachings, with an overarching  commitment to social justice. Trócaire works in 20 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America,  and the Middle East. Trócaire works in partnership with local organizations in developing  countries and with the people in Ireland to tackle the root causes of poverty and injustice as  well as contributing together with local Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to bring about  positive and lasting changes in the society.  

In Sierra Leone Trócaire was established in 1995 implementing development and humanitarian  programmes on governance, human rights, women’s empowerment, prevention, response to  gender-based violence, sustainable livelihoods, climate change, and peacebuilding. In  partnership with local CSOs that directly implement projects in communities, Trocaire  primarily works in Port Loko, Kambia, Karene, and Bombali districts, and recently expanded  to Kono, Bo, Kenema, Western Area Rural and Urban districts meeting other development and  humanitarian needs.  

About the project 

Ireland’s Civil Society Partnership (ICSP) for A Better World is a five-year project funded by  Irish Aid which will run from 2023 to 2027. The overarching objective is to ensure that  vulnerable and marginalized people, especially women and youth, have sustainable lives  including diverse food sources and economic well-being. The project is in its second year of  implementation with remarkable milestones achieved, and compelling targets ahead for the  remaining years. The ICSP will contribute to a Better World by implementing interlinked  Long-Term Development, Chronic Humanitarian Crises and Acute Humanitarian Crises 

programmes in 15 poor, climate-affected and fragile countries across the world, alongside the  Global Citizenship Education programme in Ireland. 

In Sierra Leone the project is implemented in partnership with 10 CSOs in Kambia, Port Loko  and Karene districts. The project will support locally led actions to achieve 1) climate and  environmental justice; 2) ensure women and girls’ protection, voice and leadership; and 3) save  lives and protect human dignity. The project is committed to protecting civil society space and  progressing the localization approach by truly shifting the power to local organizations. It will  further foster transformative change with high quality, safe and accountable programmes and  through effective leadership, advocacy, coordination and risk management.  

Towards achieving climate and environmental justice, the project is set to ensure that rural  women and youth, have adopted agro-ecological approaches at household and community  levels; communities are actively engaged in protecting and enhancing biodiversity/natural  resources; increase and diversify sustainable economic well-being of women and youths; and  promote collaborative advocacy for their rights (e.g. for seed, food, budgetary, markets  engagement, services (financial, education, technical, information) and rights related to the  sustainable management and governance of natural resources). To ensure the effective  management of natural resources, while building skills and diversifying livelihoods, the project  will increase access to sustainable, reliable and affordable energy solutions for households  cooking.  

Sustainable Energy 

Access to clean fuels and technologies for cooking is limited in Sierra Leone with an estimated  1% of the population using clean cooking solutions. Most of the population, especially rural  communities rely on wood from forest, mangroves and plantations as a source of energy for  household cooking and other commercial purposes like smoking fish, baking bread and cakes.  Recent practice is the transformation of wood into charcoal for both household use and  commercial purposes. The production of charcoal is widespread in Sierra Leone, considered a  business, and notably one of the major causes of forest size reduction and total disappearance  in many places. Also, a contributing factor to climate change and altering health human  conditions. These practices continue to put pressure on the remaining forest cover across  various ecologies thereby exacerbating the climate crisis and increasing the vulnerability of the  local population to existing and emerging climate and environmental related shocks and 

disasters. It further threatens the food system in terms of productivity, reducing yield quality  and quantity owing to the ripple effects of climate change in the agriculture sector.  

Ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all is one the UN 17  global targets. Sierra Leone is committed to this target through her intention to expand access  to affordable, reliable and clean energy to improve people’s livelihoods and deliver on its  Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement. A sustainable source of  energy for cooking especially for households in rural communities means reducing human  pressure on forest deforestation and enhancing natural resource management necessary for  local climate change adaptation and mitigation.  

Objective of the assignment 

Considering the challenges rural communities are facing to access sustainable and clean energy  solutions for their household cooking and the pressure current cooking energy practices has on  the environment especially the forest, this consultancy seeks to provide practical solution for  communities to meet their household cooking energy needs through recycling of household  and agricultural biodegradable waste from the communities into a charcoal briquette. Provide  practical capacity building and training for a targeted number of men and women to produce  charcoal briquettes from agricultural and households’ materials easily available in their  communities. It will further seek to introduce households to clean cooking stoves that can be  manufactured from resources in their communities, moving away from the traditional cooking  stove that uses more energy and wood. This will involve utilizing local technologies,  knowledge, and equipment readily available in the communities to set up a production system.  The consultant is expected to demonstrate together with the project participants the production  of charcoal briquette and clean cooking stoves as a sustainable solution to meet their household  cooking energy needs. Take them through the process of material acquisition, the required  knowledge for the transformation of the materials into clean and sustainable energy products  and demonstrate the relevance of adopting the solution. 

Scope and duration of the assignment  

This assignment will target to provide capacity building for 10 Trōcaire partner organisations  staff, and 30 project participants in Port Loko District, Lunsar Town. It will involve bringing  together the partners’ staff and the targeted project participants and engage in collaborative and  practical sessions to help them gain practical knowledge and skills in the production of charcoal  briquettes and energy efficient cooking stoves for households. Targeted materials to produce 

the products should be readily available resources in the communities without impacting the  environment and their livelihoods.  

Key responsibilities 

1. Set up a practical training program for Targeted project participants to produce charcoal  briquette from three different households and or agricultural biodegradable materials in the  communities. 
2. Provide the targeted people supported with the required knowledge and skills supported  with innovation to enhance the production of charcoal briquette. 
3. Demonstrate through practical training the fabrication of local or improved cooking stoves  and cooking energy saving solutions that are reliable and sustainable. 
4. Showcase the relevance and advantages of adopting the sustainable energy cooking  solutions to the project participants in comparison to the present approach 

Approaches 

1. Visit the targeted community to see which materials/resources are available and necessary  to deliver on the assignment. 
2. Engage the communities to assemble the materials and prepare it for the transformation  into charcoal briquette and energy efficient cook stoves. 
3. Conduct the training covering the duration of five days in the field  

Deliverables 

The consultant will produce the following deliverables: 

1. Inception report detailing the approaches, materials/equipment, and relevance outcome of  the assignment. 
2. Draft report with power point presentation to the team on the processes, and how the  expected deliverables were met. 
3. Final consultancy report with a detailed description of the processes and outcomes. Profile of the consultant 

The consultant should have the following profile:  

1. Practical knowledge in sustainable and clean energy solutions especially in the production  of charcoal briquette and design of energy efficient cooking stoves.
2. Have a business or part of an established business/organisation into sustainable energy  solutions specifically charcoal briquette production and or fabrication of energy efficient  cook stoves. 
3. A strong background in Environmental Sciences, Engineering, Climate Change,  Development, Social Sciences, or any relevant field of study related to this assignment. 4. At least 3 years’ experience working in the field of sustainable and clean energy solutions  

and have conducted similar assignments for communities/groups/organisations. 5. Commitment to safeguarding of programme participants, as demonstrated by signing  Trócaire’s Safeguarding Programme Participants Policy. 

Consultancy Management 

The consultant is responsible for her/his own internal travels and medical insurance while  performing this function. The consultant will report directly to the Climate Change and Food  Security Program Officer; and the Head of Programs at Trocaire who will provide oversight  responsibility for the consultancy management. The assignment should cover a duration of 30  days. Within this period, all deliverables should have been completed and final report  submitted.  

Safeguarding  

All consultants who work for Trócaire will be required to sign and abide by Trócaire’s  Safeguarding and Data Protection principles. Any instances of breach of Trócaire’s  safeguarding and data protection policy by the consultant and his or her team members will  result in the immediate cancellation of the contract between Trócaire and the consultant. In  addition, any pictures taken of the participants by the consultant should be only after the  consent of the project participant and signing of the Consent Form.  

Submission Guidelines  

Requirements: 

Technical Proposal – outlining your understanding of the TOR, the approach, required  materials/equipment that will be used in undertaking the assignment, work plan, and team  composition, including CVs and 3ence refers for similar assignments. 

Financial proposal (maximum 1 page) outlining all relevant costs, including consultant fees.

If shortlisted and contacted for an interview, bring along a sample of charcoal briquettes  produced by your organisation/business and a paper design of an example of a sustainable cook  stove. 

APPLICATION 

Expression of interest to undertake the consultancy should be submitted to:  tenders@trocaire.org  

Deadline for Submitting the Expressions of Interest is by 22nd October 2024.  (Only shortlisted consultants will be contacted for an interview).